American Samoa misses tuna deal

The American Tunaboat Association is lamenting the failure of the United States and Pacific nations to strike a deal on tuna fishing.

At this month's negotiations on the Multilateral Treaty on Fisheries, or the South Pacific Tuna Treaty, in Auckland, the agreement was not extended past this year.

The executive director of the ATA, Brian Hallman, says the result leaves the US tuna fleet without fishing access to the Pacific Ocean in 2015.

Mr Hallman says the treaty has been in effect for more than 27 years and that there are 40 US-flagged purse seine vessels licensed under the Treaty.

He says about half of the US fleet operates out of American Samoa, landing tuna catches in the territory for processing, and conducting other business valued at 50 to 60 million dollars of annual benefit to the economy of American Samoa.